Woman sentenced after controversial Bristol assault on child
The incident led to accusations of racism within Avon and Somerset Police
A woman from South Gloucestershire, who hit a young boy over the head with a paddle, in an incident that led to accusations of racism in the police, has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Fay Johnson, who's 32, hit a 12-year-old boy, who is black, at Conham River Park, on Saturday 26th March last year.
The boy suffered a serious cut to his head that needed gluing together at hospital and Johnson was arrested, but then de-arrested when police decided that there was a lack of evidence to secure a conviction.
That was despite much of the incident having been caught on camera, and led the boy's family to start a petition calling for Avon and Somerset Police to review their decision.
The public outcry did force officers to act, which has led to this sentencing today.
NOTE: For legal reasons the boy cannot be named and so we will be referring to him as Boy X for the duration of this article.
Chief Inspector Mike Buck said: “We’re extremely grateful to Boy X and his family for meeting with us in person, so we could listen to their views and concerns, explain what action we were taking, and so we could offer our apologies for the outcome of the initial investigation and for the things we didn’t get right.
“This is an upsetting case of an assault on a young boy, which caused him actual bodily harm, and the weight of evidence gathered during the re-investigation has led to the defendant admitting the offence and being sentenced today.
“We’ve identified a number of learnings as a result of this case, including the fact the family should have been offered a right to review following the initial decision.
"We want to assure the family and the wider community that we welcome the scrutiny this case has brought and we’ll use the learnings to improve the way investigations are carried out."
CI Buck also addresses the allegations of racism.
“We recognise the strength of community concern following the initial outcome of this case and the perception that Boy X was treated differently because of his race," he said.
“While we’ve found no evidence to suggest race played any part in the police decision to take no further action, we’ve listened deeply to the concerns and issues raised by the victim’s family and the wider community, and we’ll use the lessons from this investigation in the ongoing work we are doing under the National Race Action Plan – which is central to our mission to become an anti-racist organisation.
“A significant part of this plan will focus on improving our service to Black victims of crime, and we're exploring whether we can establish a clear set of standards to improve our performance and positive outcomes, because research shows Black victims of crime often do not feel they receive the same level of service as others, which can lead to under-reporting and a lack of trust and confidence in the police.
"Improving the service we offer to Black victims of crime is crucial if we are to increase community confidence and ensure we’re delivering outstanding policing to all our communities, and this case will form a central thread to our work under the Race Action Plan."
The re-investigation included a review of all available video footage, including new footage provided to the police, as well as identifying and taking statements from as many people who witnessed the incident as possible, re-examining 999 calls, compiling medical evidence and liaising with relevant partner agencies.
A file of evidence was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which later authorised a charge of causing actual bodily harm to be brought against Fay Johnson.
She will serve a four month jail term suspended for six months and has also been ordered to pay £500 in compensation.